Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware Imports Banned By Russian Court

It seems that Russia is strengthening its policies towards cryptocurrency mining activities. This time, a crypto miner had some troubles to import mining equipment purchased online and for personal use (not commercial). But after an appeal, the court barred the import of this specific mining equipment. This could lead to similar cases in other countries or in Russia.

Banning Crypto Mining Equipment

The court of Tobolsk has decided to ban the import of cryptocurrency miners. The equipment can be used so as to mine specific cryptos including Ethereum, Monero or Bitcoin (if this is an ASIC miner).

The ban has already entered into force and has affected a local miner. The citizen in question said about this situation with the customs:

“The goods are intended for personal use, for mathematical and scientific calculations.”

This hardware is used to process difficult mathematical operations that allow crypto-networks to confirm and validate transactions. Bitcoin requires very powerful mining equipment but other virtual currencies like Monero can be mined using CPU or GPU cards.

The customs department says that non-tariff regulations are applied to this commodity (related to the mining equipment). This is related to trade barriers, restricting imports and other mechanisms other than tariffs.

The office asked to the citizen to provide information about the activities it wants to perform or the conclusion issued by the FSB (Federal Security Service) of Russia. But the user did not give any specific information.

The story does not end here. The citizen appealed to the Tobolsk city court, but after examining all the evidence, the court said that it cannot accept the ‘extraction of cryptocurrency’ since statutory restrictions on imports do not depend on those purposes that are declared by the individual when it decided to import this product.

“The court found lawful the decision of the Tobolsk customs post of the Tyumen customs office to refuse the import of the equipment for cryptocurrency mining,” said the customs office.

In Venezuela, cryptocurrency mining hardware is banned from entering the country. Crypto miners in the South American country need to mine using GPU or CPU power. But during the last times, GPU cards have been banned as well from entering the country.

This situation in Russia could trigger similar decisions in other countries or even in Russia.

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